Strange Wind
by Karu Leonnese
Summary: So what's your unfinished business? [FearxSorrow, SorrowxJoy, FuryxFear, giftficceh]
1. Sorrow the Emo Ghost

Strange Wind

by Karu Leonnese

Prologue: Sorrow, the Emo Ghost

Notes: Gift ficceh for Ash. She wanted some Cobra-shipping. My first time actually working with these guys, and my lack of gaming skills haven't led meh to many opportunities to see them. So...OOC may happen.

Timeline is right after The Sorrow's death.

11111111111111111111

It should be noted, in the vast majority of given situations, that as soon as you adapt to change, something else is guarranteed to change once more. Sometimes this is a good thing, a reward to your ability to adapt. Others, it's merely Fate pushing you into an oncoming truck after you worked so hard to cross the street.

The Fear wasn't exactly clear on how to classify this particular episode in his life. But he was pretty sure he could hear tires screeching.

He'd been having a routine day. He checked his watch. Five hours. He'd been sitting in this tree for five hours. While it was true he could wait double that and not bat an eye; he'd done it before. But he was anxious to get this over with. It was annoying. The guy hadn't wandered so much as a mile within the area he was supposed to. He'd probably gotten lost, for chrissakes. he had about as much military training as a show poodle.

Begrudgingly, he hopped off the branch he'd been reclining on. Normally he'd enjoy a hunting round, but this mark wasn't going to be any fun to catch, and he wasn't worth the time anyway. Although his client would beg to differ.

His theory proved correct. The Fear found his mark entirely too easy, sitting slong a ricerbank looking thoroughly confused. He sighed. Darting around the trees with a practiced finesse, he landed finally behind the man, crossbow lodged fatally against this target's head.

The man froze instantly. Scared as he was--he could feel the man tremble beneath the bolt resting on his temple--he mustered the courage to speak clearly. "I suppose this is the end."

He smirked. "Actually, it's The Fear. But you were close."

He didn't get it, but then, he hadn't expected him to.

"I have a last request."

More trouble than it was worth... "What?"

The man slowly reached into his pocket. The Fear wasn't concerned. He could shoot this man a good number of times before he could even get the safety off any gun he may have. Instead he pulled out his wallet, offering it up to the soldier. "This has all the necessary information for a couple of well-funded accounts--"

The Fear cut him off. "I won't be bribed into sparing you. I have a contract with my client, and I will not go back on my word."

"I-I don't expect you to. I want you to make the same contract with me."

He raised an eyebrow. "Go on."

"I'll leave everything to you. Money, personal possessions--I've got no one to benifit from it. But I want you to make sure this client of yours gets the same death sentance he's given me."

There was silence for a moment, as The Fear considered the request and his mark waited. Finally the assasin relented, taking the wallet. "Alright, I accept. We have a contract."

The man slumped a little, as if making peace.

"I admire your nobility against pleading for your life. Dying bravely is something lacking in the world today. It'll be quick."

The man nodded, closing his eyes. A pull of the trigger and it was over. He fell forward into the tall grass.

One contract down, another one forged.

11111111111111111111

His apartment was silent. Almost annoyingly so. He tossed his keys onto the table and fell onto his treadbare sofa. The problem with the jobs he got was that it took him away from his home for extended time periods. Which left him with a very limited food selection upon returning. Maybe some rice or something had survived the month he'd been gone this time. He definately didn't feel like going out, shopping or otherwise. Instead he closed his eyes, ignoring the unpleasant twisting of his stomach.

He felt his head spin a bit, signalling his decent into sleep. This seemed like a good idea, and he decided to let it overtake him.

"You're stomach's growling."

He frowned. "I know. I'm trying to ignore it, thanks."

Wait...what?

He snapped his eyes open, adrenaline causing him to bolt upright.

The Sorrow smiled cooly, standing in the doorway between his living room and kitchen.

The Fear moved his hand from where it had automatically gone to--his hostered crossbow--to run through his hair with an exhaled breath. "Jesus, man, what the hell is wrong with you?"

A normal person would have pondered how the man had gotten inside the apartment. The Fear knew better.

"I apologize. It was not my intent to startle you."

He shrugged it off, leaning back on the sofa and motioning for The Sorrow to do the same. "So what's going on? Have you been here long?"

He shook his head. "Only a week or so."

"A week?" the back-haired man gaped at him. "What's so important that you'd wait here a week to find me?"

The Sorrow hesitated to reply. Finally he decided to change the subject entirely. "You've been running a soldier-for-hire business?"

He shrugged. "Yeah. Keeps my bills paid and me in shape," he purposely followed The Sorrow's attempt to stray from the original conversation. "What've you been up to?"

The shorter man looked away. "Nothing."

God, but he was transparent. And he certainly made for an interesting storyteller. Rolling his eyes a bit, The Fear continued. "Well, you've obviously been up to something. Are you tracking everyone down, or am I just special?"

"I've been trying to contact the others," his voice sounded sadder than usual, "but you're the first one I've been able to talk to."

The Fear stood up. "Well, since you're here, d''you want to grab something to eat? Someone besides me, I can justify going out to get something,"

"N-No thank you..."

He sighed, reaching over to grab his ex-partner by the arm. "C'mon, I'm all awake now and I'm hungry. So we're going out and you're just gonna have to deal with it."

Surprised, The Sorrow let himself be dragged out teh door. He was watching the hand grasping his sleeve with a shocked intensity.

The Fear noticed this and quickly let go, suddenly feeling heat rushing to his face. "Um...just c'mon."

There was a small diner across the street, luckily still open for another hour. The two slid into opposite sides of a booth. He ordered a dinner special, but The Sorrow was adamant, refusing each offer made by his teammate with a shake of his head.

A very flustered waitress left with the order. The Fear frowned curiously. "Okay, what's wrong? You're acting weird...well, weirder than normal."

"I'm dead."

"What?"

He gestured uselessly with his hands. "I'm no longer alive. I've been killed."

The Fear waved him off. "Seriously, what's wrong?"

"I am serious. I was killed by...I was killed. I'm here only through my deep connection with the spiritual realm."

A realization dawned on him. "Aaaah...I see now. You've suddenly developed some kind of sense of humour and you've decided to come get revenge for all those pranks I pulled on you back then."

The Sorrow was not amused. "Dammit Fear, this isn't a joke!"

"Yeah, okay. So what, you're a ghost now? And you've come to me so I'll help you with your unfinished business?"

He sounded serious. But then again, he _always_ sounded serious. "That is exactly why I'm here."

The Fear was getting annoyed. He glared at the other from across the table. "Prove it."

"Excuse me?"

"Prove it to me that you're dead. Do some ghost stuff. And no possession crap, I've seen all that before."

Frowning but undaunted, The Sorrow stood. By now the waitress had returned, carrying a plate as if she was loathe to come back to the table. The bespectacled man strode over to her, determined.

"Ma'am, I'd like a word with you..."

The waitress walked past him, not hearing.

"I'm not impressed," The Fear mumbled.

"What?" the girl set the plate on the table.

He shook his head. "I was talking to my friend."

She tried her best to smile, nervously turning back toward the kitchen. Frowning at his partner, he stepped directly in her path. She walked right through him, not even noticing.

The Fear froze mid-bite, a fork hanging out of his mouth. The Sorrow returned to his seat, eyes narrowed. "Happy now?"

"You're...you're serious, aren't you?"

"Should I attempt to beat it into you?"

He raised a hand tenatively, poking the other in the arm. Instead of passing through him as the girl had done, it pressed into the cloth of his sweater.

"How come I can touch you then?"

The Sorrow shook his head. "I'm not sure. Although you're the first person to be able to see me and converse with me. I'm sure that factors in somehow."

He chuckled. "That explains the weird looks the waitress was givin' me..."

"To a casual observer, you must look quite crazy," he agreed, a small smile sneaking up on him.

The Fear turned to his dinner, speaking a lot quieter. "Okay. So tell me everything. What happened?"

"I...I can't remember," he looked down at his hands, folded neatly on the table. "I think I was shot."

Orange eyes narrowed. "And you want me to find the bastard who did it? I'll make sure they get what they deserve."

"No!" he blurted suddenly, before calming himself. "No. That's not important."

The Fear tilted his head. "So what are you trying to do?"

Before The Sorrow could reply, the waitress returned with the check. The way she ran up, dropped off the slip of paper and skittered back to safety would lead one to believe she was the crazy one. He reached into his pocket and pulled out an unfamiliar object.

The dead man's wallet.

"Oh crap."

The Sorrow looked at it. "What?"

"I've got another case."

"Oh," he shook his head. "It doesn't matter. I'm not going anywhere, I can wait until you're done."

He found his own wallet, leaving the money on the table. "Well, if you're sure. You should come with me. I kinda feel like I should keep tabs on you."

The blue-eyed man gave him a look. "_I'm _the one who needs looking after?"

He laughed. "Well yeah, you're a ghost. Normal rules don't apply for you."

"What an optimistical approach to being dead..."

The Fear grinned. "That's me. So...what exactly am I supposed to help you out with?"

"I need to find...I need to see The Joy."

11111111111111111111

Next chappeh promises better intereaction. Tell meh whatcha think!


	2. Soldiers For Hire

Chapter Two: Soliders-For-Hire

11111111111111111111

"Go to sleep."

"Ghosts don't sleep."

"Well, then find something to do."

"Why?"

The Fear turned, facing away from the ghost, who sat on the small chair beside the bed. "Because I can't sleep with you starin' at me all night."

"I-I'm not staring at you! I'm...thinking."

"Then go think in the living room. Watch some TV or something. You're creepin' me out."

The Sorrow obliged. They needed an early start tomorrow, hoping to knock this case out of the way quickly and focus on tracking down The Joy. That in itself would be a challenge, even for them. Even if The Sorrow could just transport to her, The Fear still had to get there. He was the translator, after all.

He wondered why The Fear was different. To be honest, he'd tried all the others first. He hadn't exactly been overjouyed with the prospect of depending on the Spider Soldier. He wasn't the most reliable of the Cobras.

Although he'd grown up quite a bit since they'd disbanded. So he found himself not minding as much as he first thought he would. He could tell that sophomoric streak was still in his friend, but he managed to control it a great deal more than he used to.

He'd gone to the Joy first, of course. But it seemed that even the bond they'd shared hadn't left her with the ability to aknowledge him. That had been a deep blow. Then he sought out The End, hoping his years had left him insightful to the spirit world. But the old man had just slept. For weeks. And when The Sorrow tried to wake him, he passed right through the autotroph. Not even the damned parrot paid him any mind.

The benefit of being a ghost around The Pain was that you couldn't get stung. But it hadn't mattered in the long run. He'd almost had some progress with The Fury. The cosmonaut was able to sense a presence, but nothing beyond that.

Except fire. There was a lot of fire directed at an unknown presence.

By the time he'd reached The Fear's apartment, he'd basically given up hope. That was why he'd waited the week for The Fear to return instead of seeking him out. He just hadn't cared enough to put up the effort.

He'd been as shocked as The Fear when he'd opened his eyes and saw him--actually _saw_ him. Relief had flooded through him just hearing someone speak to him, answer him.

Now he felt infinately better, if not a little bored. He decided to look around to kill time. He was going to need something to do at night, now that he wasn't burdened by the concept of sleep.

11111111111111111111

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BE--

SLAM!

The small alarm clock hit the wall, bounding off it with the force and hitting the floor. Mumbling obscenities, The Fear sat up, running a hand through sleep-tangled hair. He got out of bed, padding toward the cup of coffee that ould save what remained of the poor clock's life.

The Sorrow looked up as the bedroom door opened, watching the black-haired man stumble towrd the kitchen. He tripped once on the long hem of his plaid pajama pants, but managed to make it without any damage. He'd poured himself some coffee, added cream and sugar and taken a long sip before he stopped, noticing something.

"Did you make coffee?"

The Sorrow nodded. "I figured you might need it."

He took another sip. "Thanks."

"You're welcome," he replied, turning back to the book he had open on the floor.

The mercenary took his cup and sat on the sofa. "Whatcha got there?"

He smiled a tiny bit. "I was looking around and found these in the closet."

"The picture albums?"

"Yes. Although I have to admit," he looked up at The Fear, an amused look on his face, "I didn't take you for the sentimental type."

The Fear grinned back. "You didn't take me for the ghost seeing type either."

"This is true."

He stretched, joints moving in and out of place without him even trying. "So...do you eat?"

"I haven't bothered to check," he shrugged. "But I don't get hungry."

"Fair enough. If you want anything, just speak up. We've got a meeting with this guy in a few hours. After that's taken care of, we're free to look up Joy."

The Sorrow nodded. "Thank you."

"No problem," he returned to the kitchen, setting his empty cup in the sink. When he turned around, he found The Sorrow watching him. "What?"

The silver-haired man blinked. "I was just wondering why you're so different than I remember."

The Fear returned the gaze with a smirk. "What, because I haven't picked on you yet? Give me a little credit, I have to have time to gather some new material."

He laughed. It wasn't something the mercenary was used to hearing, but it was nice.

The pair headed out shortly after. The Fear, in a purple dress shirt and black pants to The Sorrow's amazement, also carried a backpack. It contained the files he'd kept for the completed contract and the ones he'd made up this morning for the new one. There was also a few necessary tools for what was going to transpire.

The Sorrow walked beside the mercenary, passing through anyone who happened to be in his path. The Fear, a bit self-concious after the diner incident, muttered at him, "That's gonna take getting used to watching."

The ghost was in a particularly good mood. "I suppose it is. I'm impressed how well you clean up."

He laughed. "You go around wearin' military gear all the time and people get suspicious."

"So what's the plan?"

The Fear crossed the street, The Sorrow hurrying behind. "We find some way to get him by himself, away from everyone else. Then we take him out. Short and to the point."

His client had agreed to meet with him at a park to discuss something regarding the end of the contract. He'd been vague on purpose, luring his client-turned-mark in with mystery. It worked, and he had wanted to meet with him immediately.

The park was deserted for the most part. Children were in school, and it was a few hours until business lunch break. The less people present, the less the chance of someone getting hurt unecessarily, should something go wrong.

The Fear sat on a bench, hands in his pockets.

The Sorrow sat beside him. "So is this all you've been doing?" he asked casually.

"Hey," he replied in mock-defense. "I've been very productive."

"In murder. Not to mention it's like a bad detective movie."

"How'd you like to be my secretary?"

Rolling his eyes, he shoved his friend a little.

"Do you normally talk to yourself?" a rather rotund middle-aged man in a grey business suit asked, sitting by The Fear on the bench. The Sorrow, despite his practice at this phasing through people, was still caught off-guard. With a yelp of surprise, he floated above the bench.

The Fear just grinned. "Only here lately..."

"Okay, let's just get this over with. You finished the job, correct?"

"Yeah, it's done."

"So why do you need to talk to me?"

He glanced up at The Sorrow before putting his plan into action. "Well, before he died, he...tried to bribe me into sparing him. I still took care of him, but I've got a few things I think you ought to look through."

"What kind of things?"

"Material possessions, some property deeds..." he shrugged. "It doesn't mean anything to me, and I figured you could benefit from it."

He looked impressed. "Sounds interesting."

The Fear stood. "Well, you'll understand for safety reasons, I wouldn't bring them with me. I've got them hidden shortly from here. Would you follow me?"

The man obeyed, either utterly naiive or too busy with his greed to notice the dangers that awaited him. Seeing as though he paid for an assasination, The Sorrow guessed it was the latter. The Fear led him out of the safety of the park and down the street.

For what it was worth, the plump man didn't try to make useless conversation. At least until they stopped in an alley. Then he started talking.

"What's going on?" he demanded, taking a nervous step away from the raven-haired man.

The mercenary grabbed the man by his jacket lapel, slamming him face-first into the brick wall. "Let's call it... reciprocation."

He tried to speak, one of his cheeks pressed roughly against the stone. "What are you talking about? How dare you double-cross me!"

"The contract was fufilled. I have another contract now. With his last request, he made one for you."

"NO!"

He ended it then, the smaller of his crossbows out and fired before he could go into whatever he may have had to say. The Fear didn't waste any time with non-fatal wounds, as he usually would when he wanted to toy with a mark. This one was far too annoying.

Straight headshot.

The man's body slid lifelessly down the wall. The Fear frowned distastefully, wiping at the small flecks of red now on his shirt. "Figures he'd be a messy one.:

The Sorrow was staring at the corpse. "So what now?"

He set the knapsack down, pulling it open. "We clean up and hightail it before someone decides to take a shortcut."

From what he remembered, he knew the blue-eyed man would have some lecture about how killing brought suffering. He'd heard it a million times over the years. So he was quite surprised, after pulling a large canvas sheet from his bag, that the smaller Cobra said nothing, grabbing a side of it and offering to help.

There was probably going to be a lecture at some point and time.

With the job completed and cleaned up, the pair returned to the apartment. The Sorrow continued perusing photo albums while The Fear showered and changed out of blood-speckled clothes.

"So I figured we could check out some newspaper back issues for news that might help," The Fear said later, rumaging around his living room chair for a new shirt.

The Sorrow looked at him questionably, wondering why he kept his laundry in the living room. "Do you think they'd actually print something like that in the paper?"

He shrugged, running his towel through his hair. "Probably not in plain words. But we know what to look for, right?"

The ghost looked away suddenly, uncomfortable. "...If you think so."

The Fear quirked an eyebrow, but didn't ask, not expecting to get an answer if he did. Instead he tossed the towel uncaringly on the couch and slipped a t-shirt over his head. "Okay then."

He knelt down where The Sorrow was sprawled out and began to pick up the album books. When he recieved a confused look, he grinned.

"We'll take them with us. That way you have something to do if you get bored."

The Sorrow frowned. "Gee, should we bring colouring books too?"

He stuffed the books into the knapsack. "I'm just tryin' to help. If you start talking to me over there, I'm gonna talk back, and I'll look insane."

"Oh, you need me as an explination for insanity..."

"You ready to go or not?"

The Sorrow got to his feet. As they passed the doorside table, The Fear snatched the wallet off it as a second thought. Couldn't hurt to bring it along. Locking the door behind them, they started down the stairs.

"I usually get some good information out of the papers," The Fear explained, starting down the stairs. "You just have to know how to look."

The Sorrow stopped, frowning. "Do you smell something burning?"

The mercenary tilted his head, sniffing the air. "Come to think of it, yeah. What do you think--"

He was cut off as a flame blared through the stairway, knocking him back with the force. He fell against the wall opposite the stairs, slumping to the floor. The Sorrow ran to him.

"Now I'll make sure you leave me alone..."

11111111111111111111

Haha cliffhanger for you all.


	3. Firestarter

Chapter Three: Firestarter

11111111111111111111

"Where'd you go? I followed you all the way here, do you really think you can hide?" Finishing his climb up the stairs, the flamethrower-bearing Cobra scanned the hall.

The Fear rubbed the back of his head, which was starting to throb a bit from it's sudden connection with the wall. "Goddammit, Fury, what the hell are you doing here?!"

The man in question turned to him, as if just noticing he was there. "You! You're behind this? I should've known..."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," he grumbled, pushing himself up. "Behind what?"

The Fury paused, but did not lower his torch. "You mean to tell me that this...thing I've been following isn't your fault?" he deadpanned.

The Sorrow helped The Fear to stand the rest of the way. "What's he talking about? There's nothing here besides us."

"What 'thing'? There's nothing here."

"If you're not part of this, just stay the hell outta my way. Whatever this is, it's invisible, and that makes it even more dangerous," The Fury narrowed his eyes. "Don't move."

The Fear froze. "Fury, don't you DARE--"

Whatever he thought was going on, he was obviously pointing a flamethrower in their direction. The mercenary quickly shoved The Sorrow away from the spot, taking a dive himself as the heat shot over his head. Before he could sufficiently yell at the enraged man, he noticed the weapon wasn't aimed at him anymore.

It was aimed menacingly at The Sorrow, who was currently sprawled out on the hall floor.

"Move!"

The ghost barely had time to look up. Flames shot out and The Sorrow screamed.

Before any more damage could be done, The Fear slammed into the silver-haired man, sending them both out of the fire's reach. The Sorrow cried out as he was pinned painfully under the other for a moment, before the Spider Soldier scrambled to his feet.

"Put the fucking gun DOWN Fury!"

He did not. "Don't think I won't go through you to get to this thing, Fear," he warned icilly. "It's been tormenting me for a month! This ends NOW."

He opened fire again, this time on the very-visible mercenary. Lightning fast, The Fear dodged the blaze, kicking himself off the wall as another blast tore through the air.

The black-haired Cobra landed behind The Fury, attempting to disarm him. But the pyromaniac yanked the flamethrower out of his grasp, clenching fiercely at his wrist and pulling.

The Fear was flipped over his shoulder, flying into the door of his apartment. The weak lock buckled under the force and the door swung open, leaving him sprawed in the doorway, momentarily dazed. This was more than enough time for The Fury to lock on him.

With a yell, The Sorrow was up and running, rearing back and slamming a fist into The Fury's stomach. Caught off-guard more than in pain, he fell back. Sorrow grabbed the flamethrower and pointed it danger-end at Fury's face. Amazed, Fear stood up, taking the weapon from him. Adrenaline giving way to normal reasoning, the ghost felt his legs give out on him.

The Fear exhaled, looking between the two of them. "Now...can we have a conversation, or should we keep blowing shit up?"

To the other Cobras' surprise, The Fury started laughing. They watched him for a moment, casting each other a confused glance.

After a moment to compose himself, the Flame Soldier locked eyes with The Fear. "You're protecting someone. Who is it?"

Before he could answer, The Sorrow added a question of his own. "How was I able to hit him?"

He decided the smaller man's question should be answered first. "It's probably a lesser degree of being aware of you. He can't see or hear you, but he can sense you, so you two can physically connect."

The Fury frowned. "You sound like a goddamn textbook. And you didn't answer my question."

"It's Sorrow."

Whatever he'd been expecting, that obviously wasn't it. "What?"

"Fear..." The Sorrow muttered.

The mercenary continued on, ignoring the ghost. "Sorrow's the one you're sensing. He's dead. But he--"

"A ghost?" he couldn't tell from the tone whether Fury believed him or not.

"More or less, yeah. I'm the only one of us who can see him for some reason."

"Uh...Fear..." Sorrow persisted.

"So you mean to tell me that you're bein' haunted by Sorrow's ghost?" he stood up, crossing his arms.

He shrugged. "Yep."

The Sorrow tried once more. "Fear!"

This time the orange-eyed Cobra responded. "What?!"

He pointed to the doorway. "Your apartment's on fire."

Wide eyed, he turned around, gaping at the flames dancing around his apartment. They'd already burned through the majority of his front door, spilling inside to destroy the interior. He jumped up to go inside, possibly find something to put it out and salvage what he could, but something tripped him. He crashed back onto the rough carpet of the hall only to find The Sorrow's arms wrapped tightly around his leg.

"What are you doing? Let me go!" he struggled, but the ghost held tight.

"No! There's nothing you can do, it's too big! You're just going to hurt yourself!"

"I'll be damned if I'm just gonna sit here and watch it burn! LET ME GO!"

Something connected painfully with the back of his head. He closed his eyes against the pain and found it entirely too difficult to open them again.

11111111111111111111

The first thing The Fear thought when he came to was that he was looking at one hell of a headache with all this head trauma.

He opened his eyes slowly, staring into the concerned face of The Sorrow. "Are you alright?"

With a growl, he put a hand to his head. "What the hell...?"

He could hear sirens in the background. Fire trucks most likely. Were they still in the building? He sat up, immediately regretting it as his head began to spin. But it let him look around. They were outside, on the building's grounds. The Fury stood beside them, watching flames consume the apartment complex.

The Sorrow knelt beside him. "Well, now what do we do?"

"Get the hell outta here before the cops find the guy with the flamethrower, that's what." He stood, and after a moment for the world to stop spinning, grabbed The Fury by the arm. "C'mon, let's go."

The pyromaniac stared at him, as if considering fighting him. Then he shrugged, tossing his finished cigarette onto the sidewalk. "Whatever."

The Sorrow got to his feet as well, grabbing The Fear's knapsack that had gotten tossed near him when they'd taken the mercenary out of the building. "Where are we going?"

The Fear frowned. As good a question as that may be, he refused to seem out of control of the situation. Even if they all knew the truth. "We're going back to that diner. That way we can figure out what we're gonna do."

"O-Okay..."

The diner was going through its dinnertime rush when they entered. Fortunately the waitress they'd scared the previous night was nowhere to be found. The Fury took the booth across from The Fear. The Sorrow, choosing the less of the current two evils, scooted in next to The Fear.

The Fury glared at the mercenary. "Alright, so why's Sorrow hanging out around you?"

The black-haired man glanced boredly at a menu. "Well, he's a ghost, right? Apparently I'm the only one who can see him, so I'm trying to help him find The Joy."

He raised an eyebrow. "Since when do you help people for the hell of it?"

"Hey!"

"Well, based solely on your past ethics, I'd say he's got a point," The Sorrow said with a small smile.

"Oh thanks a lot..." he rolled his eyes, tossing the menu back on the table.

The Fury turned to where he knew The Sorrow was sitting, his tone slightly annoyed but not quite homicidal. He was in a good mood now. "Did you find what you were looking for?"

Sorrow blinked. "Tell him I don't understand."

"He doesn't understand."

"He was obviously tryin' pretty damn hard to find something. Every time I'd turn around, something else was torn apart or rummaged through."

"I didn't do any of that...I tried to talk to him and he attacked me, so I gave up and moved on."

Fear relayed the message and Fury frowned. "How long has he been with you?"

"About a day and a half. Why?"

After a quick mental process, The Fury growled. "If it wasn't him, who the hell was it? I followed this thing all the way over here for two days."

The Fear blinked. "You've got some time on your hands, don't you?"

"Look who's talking."

"Do you think it's another ghost?" The Sorrow thought aloud.

"Could be..." the mercenary replied, "It's invisible. There's not really much it CAN be."

"We should keep a lookout for it, I suppose."

The black-haired man turned to the newer member of their party. "At any rate, there's not much we can do about it now. We'll look into it. In the meantime, let's focus on finding The Joy. Hell, she may even know what to do about your invisible stalker."

The Fury raised an eyebrow. "What's all this 'we' stuff? Who says I'm doin' anything with you nutjobs?"

"Dude, you toasted my apartment."

"Right. My bad."

"Ah, speaking of which..." The Sorrow interjected. "With your apartment currently in ashes, where exactly are you planning on sleeping tonight?"

He sprawled out on the table. "Aw man..."

"You don't have any friends you can stay with?"

The Fear glared at him. "I'm a part-time assasin. What kind of friends am I gonna have?" He sat up suddenly, remembering something.

The knapsack was on the ground beside him. He squirmed under the table, opening it up and pulling something out. With a grin, he slammed the wallet on the table.

"Moving time kids."

11111111111111111111

Property damage is ALWAYS fun!


	4. The New Old Apartment

Chapter Four: The (New) Old Apartment

"Bet you're glad I trashed your apartment now..."

"Just shut up..."

The Fear looked at the deceased's wallet again, matching the address on his license to the house in front of them. Definately the same place. He wondered why he was so surprised. Most of his clients--and marks-- were business class. The house was more than spacious enough for one person; the man had said he lived alone. Although it did have the undecorated no-nonsense look that could almost guarantee that it lacked a woman's touch.

"Charming..." Fury looked the place over. "Did you get the keys?"

"No. At the time, I didn't know I was going to need to take him up on his offer."

"One usually overlooks to prepare for a pyromaniac rendering your home to ashes," The Sorrow agreed.

Fury grinned, entirely too pleased with the situation. "Does that mean I get to break a window?"

The mercenary rolled his eyes. "Yeah, go ahead and take care of that before the cops get done cleaning up the last mess you made."

The Flame Soldier picked up a rather large rock from the driveway.

The Fear grabbed his arm. "Hey! Did you not hear the sarcasm dripping off my words?"

"I did," he replied. "But I decided to ignore it."

"You're not breaking any windows, Fury."

"Says you."

The door opened. The Sorrow poked his head out. "I suppose this counts as an advantage to the situation."

"Oh. I forgot you could do that."

"He unlocked the door, didn't he?" Furry tossed the rock back on the ground, disappointed.

"Yep."

The interior of the house was much like the outside; plain. One could tell this man hadn't spent a great deal of time here. It was devoid of any sort of personal decoration, no pictures, no trinkets on the walls or shelves.

There were a lot of books though. They lined the shelves, which were tall enough to almost touch the ceiling. The Sorrow gravitated there almost immediately. The Fury fell back onto the couch, content to relaz and light a cigarette. The Fear started a tour around the house. The living room and kitchen were huge, but there was still only one bedroom. Good thing Sorrow didn't sleep.

He walked back into the living room, tossing his knapsack on the glass coffee table. "Well, here's the new HQ I guess."

Fury propped a leg up on the edge of the table. "Yeah? Well what's this new HQ got stocked to drink?"

Years of training had left The Fear with a very-alert way of sleeping. So when the bedroom door opened later that night, he knew it immediately. He didn't move as The Sorrow shut the door softly behind him, looking around briefly. Then he sat down on the floor against the wall, facing the bed and opening the book he'd brought in with him.

He waited a bit before speaking. "Sorrow?"

The blue-eyed Cobra looked up at him. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you."

"You didn't," he lied. "What's up?"

"The Fury said I was reading too loudly, whatever that means. Even though he can't hear me..."

Fear smiled, sitting up. "He's just mad cuz he has to sleep on the couch."

"If it bothers you, I could go somewhere else..."

"It's no problem," he replied. "Sorry there's no chair."

Sorrow shrugged, a small smile settling on his face.

"Well," he scooted over on the large bed, leaving a spot open. "If you get tired of the floor, you can...y'know, sit up here if you want."

The ghost stared at him, and odd look in his eyes. "Who are you?"

Fear stifled a yawn with the back of his hand. "What?"

He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "I wouldn't imagine you were the smae person I knew."

Suddenly embarassed, he covered with a lopsided grin. "Well, I can't very well pull pranks on a ghost..."

The Sorrow nodded, looking...smug? "I suppose not."

The orange-eyed Cobra's grin faded. "Besides...you've been through hell. If someone I relly cared about couldn't even see me I'd be devestated."

Fear saw Sorrow's eyes lower and smacked his forehead. "God, I'm sorry. That's probably the last thing you wanna think about..."

"It's...okay," he looked back up at his friend. "Listen, when I--"

He stopped short as the sound of glass shattering came from the living room. They jumped up, The Fear getting tangled in the blankets for a moment, and ran into the room.

The coffee table was in shatters. Almost positively because of the ex-Cobra laid out in the middle of it.j

"Fury!"

The Flame Soldier put a hand to his head slowly, groaning. "Fuckin'...where is it?"

"Where's what?" The Fear pulled him up carefully, trying not to cut him further. The back of his arms were covered in tiny red cuts, his back most likely the same.

Then he felt something push him, full in the back. He yelled, pitching forward. He could see the broken glass all over the floor; he was going to hit it face first.

His decent was stopped just as sudden. The Sorrow held on to him, arms wrapped around his waist. The Spider Soldier regained his footing. "Oh god..."

"What was that?!" Sorrow released him, looking around. "Where'd he go?"

The Fear choked down a rather sickening mental image of glass shards in his face. "Who?"

"The thing that's been screwin' with me!" Fury snapped, wincing as he moved sharply. "You can't see it?"

The Sorrow felt something move past him. He reached for it, but his arm went right through. "Fear, I don't think it's a ghost. I can't touch it."

"If it's not a ghost, what the hell is it?!" The Fear turned in a circle, desperately trying to get a glance at their tormenter.

The thing laughed. Hearing it come from slightly to the left, The Fury lashed out. He hit the invisible foe with a few good punches. This seemed to lighten his mood. "Hell yeah, we can hit him!"

It ran from him, passing directly through The Sorrow. He gasped as something close to a static shock coursed through him. He fell to his knees, eyes wide and mouth agape.

"Sorrow!" Fear started to him, only to be stopped as something pierced his side, ripping a pained howl from him. Before he could reach down and pull out the large shard of table that had stabbed him, he was thrown back into the bookshelf. A few of the books fell around him before the entire shelf crashed down on him.

"Shit!" The Fury tried to pull the shelf back up, letting out a long stream of curses as his cut skin was pulled by the effort. The Sorrow grabbed Fear's arm and struggled to pull him out.

"We need to get out of here!" Sorrow said to Fury, before realizing how useless this was. "Fear, can you hear me?"

His voice was dazed, as if only half-aware of his surroundings. "Yeah, I hear ya. Hey Fury, Sorrow says let's get the hell outta here..."

The pyromaniac frowned, loathe to run away from his fight once again. But he knew The Sorrow's advice was sound. In the conditions they were in, they stood to lose. Slinging Fear's arm over his shoulders, he pulled the dazed Cobra up. "Garage door."

The Sorrow followed them, looking out for their attacker. The invisible thing had taken to merely throwing books at them. The three of them went through the garage door, slamming it behind them.

"I thought you said this guy was business type..." Fury growled.

"He was..." Fear said almost too low to hear.

"Then how come he's drivin' a freakin' pickup truck?"

"I...dunno."

The Sorrow opened the door and slid inside the truck cab. Fury shoved Fear in after him and went to the hood to get it to start.

The Fear gripped the steering wheel with shaking hands. "Okay, where do we go now?"

The truck roared to life and The Fury got inside the cab, shoving Fear into the middle seat. "There is no way in HELL I'm letting you even try to walk on your own, let alone control something that can kill us."

Fear didn't argue, merely letting his head fall back onto Sorrow's shoulder. "Man, I'm tired..."

Fury drove the truck out of the garage and started down the street. His glanced in the rearview mirror.

"What the hell is that?"

Sorrow turned around. "Umm...a black cloud?"

Fear didn't relay the message, as he had fallen asleep.


	5. Recovery

Chapter Five: Recovery

"What the hell is that?"

The Sorrow couldn't answer. Their line of communication had been restored after The Fear had opened his eyes a few seconds later, tryign uselessly to gain a bit more focus. He just didn't know what it was.

A dark black smoke had started to form, following the truck as it picked up speed. The Fury glanced into the rear-view mirror, looking back and forth between that and the road. "It's followin' us!"

The Fear blinked a few times, trying to clear his head. He was seeing some pretty interesting colours. "It's jus' smoke. How can it be followin' us...?"

"I don't know how, but he's right," The Sorrow put a hand on wither side of the black-haired man's head, turning him to look behind the vehicle. "There's something following us. What it is, I don't know."

"Now that's some messed up stuff right there..."

"I don't think he's gonna be much help for awhile," Fury growled around his cigarette. His back hurt like hell, it was all he could do to focus on driving on one side of the road. Now there was some kind fo black fog chasing them. Not just forming around them, but a set amount swirling around them, matching the truck's speed.

Matching, and exceeding.

The Sorrow and The Fear were seeing something more. As the cloud caught up with them, a form became visible cutting through it. Fear yelled something unintelligible as the form, now showing itself to be a hooded figure, flew to the passenger side. It matched the truck's speed perfectly then, face turned toward Sorrow, though they couldn't see the figure's eyes.

The ghost panicked, pushing back against Fear in attempts to put more space between himself and this thing. This in turn shoved the mercenary into Fury, who swerved the truck. "Dammit Fear, what the hell?!"

"Move away from the cloud!" he yelled, pulling Sorrow toward the middle of the truck cab as much as he could.

Fury was angry and confused, but knew better than to argue. He was at a disadvantage, not being able to see what the other was seeing, so he had to trust that whatever this thing was, it was bad. Gripping the wheel, he spun a quick U-turn, sending his passengers, visible or otherwise, fumbling about.

It was suddenly very hard to breathe in the truck. Sorrow started coughing, and Fear squirmed up against the seat. "It's comin' through the freakin' vent!"

Sure enough, the black smoke was seeping through the truck's ventilation system, breaking into the vehicle. There was nothing any of them could do at that point. The fog seemed to center around the space in the truck where Fury assumed Sorrow was. Fear was yelling randomly at this point, swatting at the fog ineffectively.

Sorrow, meanwhile, was choking on the smoke. It was if it was out specifically for him. The others didn't seem to be effected by it. He was starting to get dizzy. He heard Fear bark something out to Fury, and the truck stopped suddenly. The orange-eyed Cobra reached over him and opened the passenger door, shoving him outside. He stayed where he fell, on hands and knees in the road. He breathed in, taking clean air in huge gulps and still coughing a bit.

The Fear fumbled out beside him, waving away tendrils of smoke that lingered. As soon as the truck had stopped, the figure had disappeared without warning. While he wasn't complaining, he was at a loss as to what was going on. He fell down beside the ghost, exhausted and confused.

Fury jumped out of the driver's seat, running around to check on the others. "What the hell is going on?!"

Fear shook his head. "I have no clue anymore...there was some hooded thing in that smoke. And it was after Sorrow," he looked to the silver-haired ghost, "You okay?"

Sorrow nodded, trying to catch his breath. "I don't...EVER...want to see that thing again."

"So what do we do now?"

Fury crossed his arms, scanning the road. "I'm thinking we should go back and check the house. At this point, we don't have much else we can do, unless you've got another place stashed somewhere. If that other thing's gone, we should try to patch ourselves up."

Fear nodded slowly. "I guess that sounds like a plan. But what if the invisible guy's there still?"

"I'll go in first," Sorrow spoke up, putting a hand to his head. "If I see him, we'll have to find somewhere else to go."

"Okay...hey, I got a question..."

"What?" the others asked in unison.

He rubbed at his eyes. "Is anyone else seeing colour swirls right now? Cuz I'm kinda worried here..."

"We're supposed to be doing something..."

"Yeah, just gimme a minute...my head feels too damn heavy to stand, let alone perform medical procedures."

All three of them sprawled out in the living room, too tired from thier escape to do anything but lie there. Sorrow's chest hurt from electric shock and smoke damage. Fear had managed to pull the glass shard out of his side and clamp a dish towel over it, and his head was throbbing mercilessly. Fury's entire back was one big pain, arms included.

"God, we look pathetic..." he closed his eyes, laying on his stomach on the couch.

"If I've got a concussion, I shouldn't go to sleep, right?" Fear curled into a ball on the chair. "How the hell do I know if I've got a concussion?"

Sorrow looked up at him for a moment, before returning his head to rest on his arms against the chair arm. "I'm not completely sure. Do you feel like you have one?"

He laughed softly. "If I knew that, I wouldn't have to ask."

The entire house had been torn apart when they'd returned, aiding to Fury's story that whatever this thing was, it was searching for something. Even Fear's knapsack, abandoned on the kitchen counter, had everything scattered about. There was glass everywhere, mostly where the table had been, but now tracked around by everyone.

"Maaaaan...with this much mess around, we should've had one hell of a party..." the mercenary muttered.

They slept until late afternoon. Considering they didn't go back to sleep until dawn, this was understandable. The Sorrow had managed to clean Fury up, though he couldn't cover all the cuts he'd gotten, he at least bandaged up the deeper ones. The Fear was a considerable amount more difficult. The cut he had was deep enough to warrant stitches, and it was all Sorrow could do to not make himself sick trying to accomplish this.

The Fear woke up first that afternoon, very pleased to find that the unbearable throb in his head had quelled to a dull ache. It was still going to warrant some asprin, but it was a sweet relief after last night.

He sat up slwoly, as not to agitate his head any further, not to mention his other injuries. He froze short, realizing he wasn't alone in the bed. On the other edge, giving as much space as possible between them, The Sorrow was curled up under the blankets. He finished sitting up, careful not to disturb the pale Cobra.

They'd all have a hell of a night. It seemed whenever Cobras grouped, trouble followed. He hadn't seen a fight go that badly since the six of them were still a team. And after it was all over, Sorrow had been the one to doctor them both up. His hand fell on the bandages wrapped snugly around his torso absently. He knew it couldn't have been easy for him; dead or alive he tended to be rather squeamish.

Sorrow had fallen asleep with his glasses on, the frames twisted askew as he'd moved in his sleep. Fear reached over to take them off, shocked momentarily at how cold the other's skin was. Even in his bulky sweater and wrapped in blankets, he felt like ice.

Of course he was cold, he reminded himself, he _is _a ghost...

"Fear...?"

He blinked, locking eyes with a now-awake Sorrow."Oh, sorry...I just figured you shouldn't sleep with your glasses on."

Sorrow smiled, looking slightly embarassed. "Thank you."

Fear handed him the glasses. "Hey, I thought you said you didn't need to sleep."

"I don't," he replied, "But that doesn't mean that I can't."

"Ahh."

Sorrow sat up. "How do you feel?"

He grinned. "Like I got hit with a ton of bricks."

"I believe books would be the correct term."

Laughing, he tried to restore some kind of order to his hair, and promptly lost the battle. "Yeah, a ton of books."

Sorrow was quiet for a moment before turning serious. "What do you think...what was that smoke thing?"

The mercenary stretched as best he could with his wound. "I have no idea. You and I could see it, so it has to be something supernatural."

He nodded. "And it didn't affect you, did it? Like you couldn't breathe?"

He paused, searching through the room's dresser. He pulled out an orange t-shirt and slipped it over his head. "Besides scarin' the bejesus outta me, no."

"But...Fury's invisible man...none of us can see him, myself included," Sorrow put his glasses back on, thoughts of sleep erased from his mind. "And I pass through him, so I don't think he can see me either. He must be human."

They were interrupted by a low growl. The Fear grinned sheepishly. "I guess it's time for breakfast."

The Sorrow laughed. Once again it struck him as unusual, but good to hear.

"If you cna sleep, I'll bet you cna eat. C'mon, I'll make us all some pancakes or somethin'." He scooted off the bed, grabbing Sorrow's wrist to lead him along.

The ghost allowed this, a bemused look on his face. "You can cook?"

Fear opened the door, rolling his eyes. "Of course I can," he muttered as an afterthought, "...for the most part."

"Does this place have a fire extinguisher?"

By this time, The Fury was awake as well, still laying on the sofa with his arms behind his head. Fear waved to him as he went to the kitchen. Sorrow took a seat at the small bar that served as a dining room and watched as the black-haired man started exploring the cabinets.

Twenty minutes and two skillets later, they each sat down with a plate of pancakes. After dousing his plate in syrup, Fear started in. The other two were a bit more hesitant.

"It looks...vaguely edible..." Fury frowned, poking at one with his fork.

Sorrow took a small tenative bite, chewing it over a bit before nodding. "Very good."

Fear stuck out his tongue. "You say that like you're surprised you didn't explode..."

"Can't say it didn't cross my mind," the brunette smirked, finally gathering enough courage to take a bite of his own plate.

"You're welcome," he replied sweetly.

Fury regarded him with a raised eyebrow. "Keep that tongue in your mouth if you wanna keep it."

"Ooh, someone's cranky in the morning..."


	6. Little Cobras in the Big City

Chapter Six: Little Cobras in the Big City

11111111111

The Fury was not amused.

He stood on the steps of the stone building that loomed over them, arms crossed and fuming over a cigarette. "It's a library."

The Fear rolled his eyes good-naturedly. "Well, I'm glad you said something. I could've sworn it was a bakery!"

He responded with a rather obscene hand gesture, and the mercenary winked.

"We're here to do some research. After all, we did have another mission to accomplish before you came around wavin' your fire stick," he smirked.

The Sorrow watched him. While, in the beginning, he'd found these moments of his friend's helpfulness towards him rare and surprising, he'd come to realize he'd grown quite dependant on them lately. And The Fear seemed to notice this as well, subconciously or otherwise, because he responded by being uncharacteristically sincere and compassionate.

Was it really uncharacteristic? He seemed quite at ease with himself. Which led the ghost to believe he'd misrepresented the dark-haired Cobra some time ago.

"See anythin' you like?" The Fear teased, bringing him out of his thoughts. He realized he'd been staring, and quickly looked away. The other didn't seem to mind in the slightest.

"I don't feel like hangin' around a library with _you_ of all people," Fury ran his fingers along the pattern of red lines that marked his arms.

"If you've got any better ideas, please share," Fear shrugged. "I've got a long day of reading between the lines ahead, and believe me, if there's a better way to do it, I'd love to hear!"

He knew there was no arguing with the Spider Soldier on that point. He didn't even know why he was so adamant against the situation. He uttered a growl and a curse, going back down the few steps he'd taken. "I'll do things my own way. I'll meet you back at the house later."

Fear frowned watching him go, almost tempted to stop him. Instead he turned to The Sorror, who was watching him again. He offered a wide grin. "Well, I guess it's just you and me then."

111111111111

In reality, Fury had no clue what 'his way' of doing research actually was. He just didn't want to be near The Fear. He'd been acting strangely, since he'd started talking to The Sorrow. He wasn't actually sure what exactly it was that was bothering him, but he eventually decided the easiest course of action would be to give the other his space. Let him talk to his ghosts.

Besides, he had his own mystery to solve. And as much as he respected The Joy, he didn't really think she'd know much about this.

One thing he did find, however, was a nice, empty bar.

1111111111

"I think I've got something here," The Fear declared.

The Sorrow looked up from the paper he was reading. They were seated in a secluded corner of the library, where no one could see the pages of newspapers and books turn by themselves. He almost laughed, looking at the mercenary. His face was streaked in black smudges. Newsprint from his hands wherever he'd touched his face.

"What?" he asked, seeing Sorrow's amused expression.

He shook his head. "Nothing. What did you find?"

Fear unfolded the paper he'd scattered about the table, laying it down between the two of them. "It's not exactly and arrow pointing to Joy, but it may help..."

Sorrow skimmed over the story that was pointed out to him. "This doesn't have any relevence at all."

The orange-eyed man grinned. "In a roundabout way...it's this huge factory in the next city," he explained, seeing that Sorrow wasn't going to finish the article.

"So?"

"Bees...er...hornets."

It clicked into place once he said it. "So you think he's going to be there?"

He nodded. "It's a strong possibility. And he may have some information we could use."

"It's quite a long-shot..."

"it's better than sitting here," he pointed out, not phased by his friend's pessimism. "It's not too far away, so if I'm wrong, then we didn't waste _too_ much time."

Sorrow shrugged. "I suppose it can't hurt to try."

He wrapped an arm around the other's smaller shoulders, grinning. "There's the spirit! Shall we find our angry friend?"

1111111111

The Fury decided it was in his best interest--and of those around him--to just head back to the house. People were starting to come in now, and he was starting to feel the effects of his drink. No sense in making trouble if he didn't need to. He'd save that for the things that seemed to be following them.

In the back of the house, he crawled in through the window they'd agreed to leave unlocked because of their lack of keys. He fought the urge to break one of the windows, just because Fear wasn't there to stop him. Instead he just made himself a sandwich and relaxed on the couch.

He didn't notice he'd fallen asleep until the sound of something falling to the floor brought him back. He sat bolt upright, looking for the source of the noise. At the bookshelf, books were hovering off the shelf, being opened and put aside by invisible hands.

"Bastard!" Fury yelled, jumping from the couch and slamming the unseen enemy against the shelf, pinning him.

He could feel the other struggle, but there was no way he ws going to escape. Not this time. The invisible man felt smaller than him, and he grabbed where he thought the thing's chest was, succeeding in wrapping his hand into a fist of thin fabric.

"You have put my through HELL..." he growled, leaning in dangerously close to what he assumed was an invisible face. "And now you're gonna learn a whole new definition of the word 'pain'..."

He pulled an arm back to deliver a particularly brutal punch when another pair of hands grabbed his arm tightly. He almost transferred the force of violence to this new enemy before looking over and locking eyes with The Fear.

"Drop him NOW," Fear ordered, tone deathly serious.

1111111111

They'd found Fury asleep on the couch when they returned to the house. Fear went to gather some supplies for their new direction, leaving Sorrow in the living room with the sleeping pyromaniac.

He wasn't really making much headway. The previous tennant's lack of tastes had left them with few things to pack. The place wasn't exactly brimming with the necessary equipment for a roadtrip. Not that Fear had taken many roadtrips, and even when he had, there hadn't been the option for packing beforehand.

So he was basically just tossing whatever he could find that he thought may come in handy into a backpack he found under the bed. The first-aid kit, almost empty after the other night. A few blankets off the bed. Some spare clothes. He was surprised to realize that his years of military training did not help him with this task.

Then he heard the scream.

It was short at first, a yelp of pain. He heard Fury yell something and then Sorrow start calling for him, panicked. Dropping the bag immediately, he sped out to the living room. Fury had Sorrow pinned against the bookcase, threatening him. Something in his chest dropped and he was furious. He gripped Fury's wrist, digging his nails into the brunette's arm.

"Drop him NOW."

Fury looked at him with a confused expression for a moment, before his eyes widened. "Oh shit!"

He released Sorrow quickly, who stood frozen in shock. Fear managed to make himself let go of Fury's arm, although the anger still flowed through him. "What the HELL do you think you're doing?!"

Fury shook his head. "I thought he was the invisible guy...Fuck, I didn't know!"

Fear moved to stand between him and Sorrow. "How about you try thinking before you start throwing punches next time, okay?"

His eyes narrowed. "What's with you? It was an accident. You don't have to take it so goddamn personal."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Fear snarled.

Sorrow put a hand on his shoulder. "It's okay. He didn't mean to, and I'm alright. Let's just get ready to go, okay?"

Fear and Fury stood where they were, either side refusing to give up and break the stare. Finally the fire-wielding Cobra turned away and went back to the couch. Fear returned to the bedroom, trying to calm down.

The Sorrow followed him. "Are you okay?"

He sat on the bed, running his hands over his face. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be such a jerk."

Sorrow sat down beside him. "What happened?"

Fear shrugged, looking up at the ceiling. "I don't know. I just...when I thought of you getting hurt I kinda just snapped."

In opposition to his friend, the pale man kept his gaze trained on the floor. "Thank you."

He laughed dryly. "For what?"

Tucking a stray piece of hair behind his ear, The Sorrow smiled softly. "For trying so hard."

The mercenary finally looked at him, opening his mouth to say something, and then closing it, changing his mind. He smiled, a real one this time. "Probably better go apologize. We've got a trip ahead of us, and I'll probably wind up sitting next to him."

Sorrow laughed. Fear got up, leaving him to go talk to Fury.

He sighed. "What a particularly interesting mess we've gotten ourselves into this time..."


	7. Roadtripping

Chapter Seven: Roadtripping

Notes: Aha. Fun things in this one. Slash, if you're not interested. If so, read on. -grins-

1111111111

"Get over. I'm driving."

"You drove last time."

"And you were fuckin' out of it. Now move over."

With a growl, The Fear relented, scooting into the middle of the truck once more for Fury to take the wheel. The Sorrow shoved the bookbag into the legspace of the passenger seat. "You do know where we're going, right?"

Fear grinned at him, which Sorrow took to be a rather bad omen. "Of course! We go straight to the nearest gas station and get a map!"

Fury eased the truck out of the garage. "Screw that. You said it's just in the next town, right?"

"No, I said the next city."

He frowned. "What difference does it make?"

Fear laid back, arms folded behind his head. "About six hours."

"What the hell?"

Sorrow leaned up against the window. "Wouldn't it be easier to start tomorrow morning? It's pretty late in the evening. We'd have to stop somewhere."

The mercenary frowned, as if he hadn't thought of this. After a moment's deliberation, he shook his head. "I don't think it's a good idea to stay in that house for another night. Whatever these things are, they know we're there. and I don't want another repeat of last night." His hand went to his side subconciously.

Fury sighed, heading for the freeway. "I guess that makes sense."

"We'll get there fairly early in the night, sleep somewhere, and then start out in the morning. Besides," he grinned mischieviously, and the other two were reminded that this was indeed the same Fear they'd known, "It's a roadtrip."

Fury raised an eyebrow. "And that means what, exactly?"

Fear's grin grew even wider, leaning closer to the brunette. "I think you know exactly what that means."

Sorrow, who had his gaze out the window, now turned to him as well. "You're not going to do something stupid, are you?"

He matched the stare, a slight wink before he replied. "Define stupid."

Sorrow didn't know what to make of that.

Fury, who could pretty much guess what was going on by hearing half the conversation--he was getting quite good at it, actually--laughed suddenly. "Anything you'd do, I'd consider a good definition."

"Oh?" the orange-eyed Cobra turned on him. "You didn't know that roadtrips are made for doing regrettable things?"

Fury brushed him off a bit awkwardly. "Psh. Quit bein' a moron..."

Sorrow suddenly found himself feeling a bit upset, and he didn't know why. "As long as you remember why we're going."

Fear noticed the medium's change in tone. he put a hand on the other's shoulder. "Hey, no worries. I'm totally mission-oriented. Haven't I always followed through?"

"I guess so..." Sorrow immediately regretted his sullen demeanour. "You're right...I'm sorry."

"So do you mean to tell me that you're gonna be in a big city and not do anything impulsive?" Fury asked, bemused.

Grinning slyly, Fear closed his eyes. "I never said anything like _that_..."

1111111111

The first two hours of the trip were in relative silence. The Fear had fallen asleep, and the other two couldn't talk to each other. And they probably wouldn't have gotten very far if they had the ability anyway. Fury and Sorrow never had very much to say to each other.

So, Sorrow took out one of the books he'd chosen to bring, and Fury concentrated on driving. Most of the sounds in the truck cab were pages turning, Fury swearing at other motorists, and Fear occasionally muttering something unintelligible in his sleep.

He woke up sometime later, when they parked at a rest stop. Fury went off in search of something to drink, while Fear scooted outside the truck to stretch tiredly. He leaned against the passenger door, looking up at the night sky.

"Do you think he'll know anything?" Sorrow asked suddenly, resting his chin on the rolled down window.

"I suppose we won't know until we find him."

"I mean, if we don't even know where she's at, why would The Pain know?"

"Yeah, you know how much Joy loves her classified information," he grinned.

The Joy was blocking him out. She didn't know it, but wherever she was, she wsa refusing to aknowledge the bond they'd had. Sorrow had noticed it a few days before he'd met up with The Fear. She was probably doing it to cope, but for some reason it left him unable to directly transport to her. This worried him, and was the main reason of trying so desperately to find her now.

"It'll be okay," Fear spoke up, and Sorrow realized he'd retreated into hsi thoughts again. "We'll find her. You two were in love, right? That's the kinda thing that makes anything possible."

There was something in his voice that Sorrow was shocked to recognize: sadness. He usually never saw Fear so open. Everyone knew he had some kind of feelings for Joy back then, but just how deep or fleeting they were had never been discussed. That had to be what his tone was about.

Fury came back before the ghost could reply, tossing Fear a bottle of something. The black-haired man smiled homourlessly at Sorrow before rounding the truck and climbing back in. By the time Fury got behind the wheel again, the look was gone, replaced by his usual lazy smile.

Sorrow felt guilty for some reason.

1111111111

They made it into town earlier than expected, since there were very few people on the road at that point of the night. They found a motel willing to check them in this late, although they wouldn't brag about the quality. But a bed was a bed, and they had important work to do the next day.

Fear was only minimally surprised to find The Sorrow sharing the edge of his bed again the next morning. He wasn't asleep, but he was curled up with his back to Fear, above the blankets. Fear could hear pages being turned, which meant he had probably spent the rest of the night reading.

"What time is it?" he muttered, not bothering to sit up.

"About ten-fifteen," Sorrow replied, turning onto his back and resting the book on his chest. "It's not that late yet, you can go back to sleep if you want."

He mumbled something about getting up, but a few seconds later, he heard his breath even out once more falling back to sleep.

Realizing they probably weren't going anywhere for awhile, he decided to join him.

1111111111

Sorrow arched his back with a gasp.

Warm hands trailed down his sides. A pair of lips attatched themselves to his throat, occasionally stopping to nip at his pale skin. He panted, wrapping his arms tightly around the shoulders of the body on top of him.

Black hair and an intoxicating scent he couldn't place.

A hand slid up his neck, grabbing the back of his head gently through his hair. He clenched his teeth as the mouth moved down his chest.

He hadn't realized he was making noises until he heard himself; small whimpers coming from the back of his throat.

The mouth returned to his, crushing his lips with a blazing urgent intensity. There was a pressure burning...

And then a very loud noise.

1111111111

"SON OF A FUCKING BITCH!"

Sorrow shot bolt upright in the bed as Fury swore, laying on the floor.

Fear, who had nearly jumped out of the bed himself, now started laughing uncontrollably. "You fell out?"

Well, everyone was awake now at any rate.

Sorrow frowned, mental images taking their sweet time to fade. "Just what I needed...a twist in the game..."


	8. Regrettable

Chapter Eight: Regrettable

1111111111

"You see any bees?"

"Hornets."

"Whatever. You see any?"

"Not yet."

The Fear sat back with a sigh. For all the waiting they'd done, they could have afforded a few more hours of sleep. Or at least breakfast.

"Where's Fury?" Sorrow leaned against the brick wall of the factory. The building was mass-producing some rather sweet products, and it had been attracting insects of all kinds. Particularly black and yellow ones, according to the news article The Fear had found.

"At the store, getting groceries."

"Oh," he wished the brunette had come with them. He couldn't help but feel very uneasy around the mercenary since waking up that morning. He couldn't even look at him without a few choice images running through his head. It definately made spending the afternoon alone with him vey awkward.

Fear had noticed his friend's unease, but he didn't know what to make of it. So he tried to make conversation, and found it going nowhere. "So you're for sure that The Pain can't see you?"

"Y-Yes."

"Is something wrong? You've been acting really detatched today."

"It's nothing. I've just been having...some odd dreams."

Fear felt his legs going to sleep, so he stretched them out in front of him. "Nightmares?"

Sorrow's face flushed. "Not as such, no..."

The orange-eyed Cobra quirked a brow, but nodded. "I get it. None of my business, right?"

He frowned. Since he'd met up with Fear, he'd kept very little from him. He hated now to withhold information from him, on more than one subject, but on this one especially. But he wasn't sure what this sort of thing meant, or if it meant anything at all. "Maybe...maybe later. First I need to understand it myself."

Fear nodded, not pressing the issue.

"Any bees yet?" Fury hopped the small chain-link fence, plastic grocery bag in hand.

"Hornets," Fear and Sorrow automatically corrected.

He rolled his eyes. "What the fuck ever."

"No," Fear replied as the brunette sat down beside him. "I'm starting to think this whole thing's a bust. Definately not one of my better ideas."

"So how long are we stakin' out before we give up?"

Fear shrugged. "It's up to Sorrow. This is his objective. We'll wait until he's ready to go."

Fury opened his bag, handing Fear a couple of doughnuts wrapped in wax paper. "Well, we've got breakfast at least. I was hoping to have all this sorted out before tonight though."

The Spider Soldier grinned. "Out to find some trouble?"

He frowned, unwrapping his own breakfast. "I don't need to find trouble. It finds me. I'm just in it for the drinks."

The Fear offered Sorrow one of the doughnuts, which he declined. "Well, you don't have to stay if you don't want to."

Fury leaned back against the wall, arms behind his head. "I guess it depends on when your ghost decides to pack up."

Sorrow tilted his head. "Your?"

Fury, who didn't hear him, didn't answer. The other shook his head a little, but didn't ask.

They continued the watch for another few hours before all of them, even Sorrow, decided it wasn't worth the waiting anymore. They agreed to try again the next day, and they split up. Fury headed off into town, and Fear decided to go with him.

Sorrow started to go along as well, before he changed his mind. He had a lot to think about, and a bar wasn't exactly the best place to do so. And after the awkwardness of the day, he felt he needed some time alone.

"I'll just go back to the hotel. You guys have fun."

Fear stopped, turning to stare at him. "What? You're not goin' with us?"

He smiled a bit. "I'm afraid I'll have to sit this one out. I've got...some thinking to do."

The mercenary frowned. "Are you sure?"

Nodding, the ghost waved. "Don't worry. I'll be fine. You should go have fun. You've been working hard lately."

He looked like he was about to argue, but Sorrow started walking down the sidewalk before he could protest. He heard Fury urge the other along, and he sighed to himself. If he was getting this depressed by the mere thought of spending the night without his company, he had a great deal more to think about that he would have liked to admit.

On the other side of the walk, Fear tripped a bit as Fury yanked on his arm. "If you're goin' then let's go."

1111111111

Fury was beginning a series of revalations, sitting stop a dangerously high barstool. One, it probably wasn't the greatest idea to drink as much as he did after only eating a few doughnuts that day.

Second was that he lacked in good sense when it came to drinking partners.

He looked over at Fear, who was now well past his limit of 'a few drinks' he'd set himself to when they'd stepped inside the bar. The black-haired man was slouched over in a sulking manner, resting on his crossed arms on the bar.

Fury rolled his eyes. "What the hell's wrong with you?"

"Nothin'," he replied sullenly. Slurring already, this was going to be really annoying or really interesting.

"So you're just a depressed drunk? You should prolly go back then."

"Screw off," Fear muttered, finishing off his current round. Fury himself had lost count of their place, but he knew it had to be more than usual. He started mumbling something, and the brunette leaned in closer to hear.

"Don't know what his problem is...'s not like I did anythin' wrong...what's wrong with goin' out an' havin' some fun?"

Fury laughed a bit. "Havin' fun? You've done nothin' but whine the whole time. You call that havin' fun?"

Fear looked up at him. Dear god, was he _pouting_? "Whadda you know? It's his fault anyway. Bein' so weird all of a sudden..."

"Who, Sorrow?"

"Yeah. He's been actin' all creeped out today, an' I dunno why."

Fury took a drink of his own bottle. "And this's what's been botherin' you?"

He nodded.

The pyromaniac growled, setting his drink down on the bar with a 'thunk'. "Look. I'll be the first to admit this is some weird shit we're gettin' into here. But look at the situation. He's dead. He's a freakin' ghost, and he can't talk to the person he had a thing for. Seems to me I'd be fucked up too."

Fear's face went through a range of emotions, some of which Fury had to admit he'd never seen on him. Some others he had to admit, though only to himself, that were a bit attractive on him.

What the fuck?

Finally he settled down. "I guess you're right."

"Why're you gettin' so worked up over this anyway? You loved makin' him miserable back in the day."

"I dunno...it just seems different now."

A loud howl interrupted their conversation. Across the bar, a large crowd had gathered for some reason. They were all probably as drunk as the pair, or even more so. There was a large racket being created, much to Fury's annoyance.

He looked over and found Fear with his eyes squeezed shut tight. He was shaking.

"Dude, what's wrong?"

"It's...nothin', just...the noise..." he opened his eyes, looking up at Fury with a pained expression. "My head's..." he clenched his teeth, pressing his hands to his temples.

Fury cast an angry glower towards the crowd, getting up and tossing some money on the bar. "C'mon, let's just go. These guys are fuckin' morons."

Fear bit his bottom lip, following the angry Cobra outside. The city was quiet this time of night, a welcome change from the commotion in the bar. Sighing in relief, Fear shoved his hands in his pockets, wishing vaguely that he'd brought a jacket.

"You okay now?" Fury frowned, not looking at him.

"Y-Yeah, I think so..." Embarassed, Fear kept his eyes on the sidewalk. His head spun for a moment, and he felt himself fall.

A pair of arms encircled his waist quickly, holding him up. Fury was glaring at him. "You idiot. You're too fuckin' drunk to walk."

He shook his head. "That's not it...something's gone wrong..."

"What the hell are you talkin' about?"

Fear, who had been leaning where he'd almost fallen, now straightened. Fury was still holding onto him without realizing it, until he felt the other Cobra suddenly flush against him. Face growing warm, he backed up.

The orange-eyed man spun around, grabbing at the shoulders of Fury's shirt in a panic. "I don't know what's goin' on! My head's...and I...shit..."

Fury was quite confused at this point. "What's wrong?"

He was even more confused when Fear fell forward, pushing the brunette down onto the sidewalk and falling on top of him. He was about to yell at the other, when Fear started talking, apparently not aware of their positions.

"Is that so wrong?" he asked no one in particular. "Why the hell is this happening? I was fine before..."

"Have you gone fucking nuts?" Fury snapped. Fear stopped, staring at him with wide eyes as if just noticing he was there. "What the hell are you--"

Fear silenced him by closing the distance between them quickly, kissing him. Before he knew what he was doing, Fury responded, grabbing a fistful of Fear's shirt and pulling him closer. The dark-haired Cobra deepened the action, and the other decided to reverse the position, turning them over so he was leaning over Fear, pinning his arms above his head.

The mercenary looked up at him, breathing a bit heavier than before. Something passed across his eyes, and he froze.

"There's no way that's what it means..."

1111111111

Sorrow frowned. As much as he'd been trying to figure out what was going on with his mind, it only led to a few conclusions, none of which he was willing to elaborate upon. He'd given up in favour of reading until the other two got back, but found himself unable to concentrate. Frustrated, he just stared out the window.

A couple of hours later, his head began to hurt badly. Agonizingly. He cringed, curling into a ball. It was unbarable...this kind of pain.

Then it was gone again, just as sudden. He sat up, finding tears in his eyes from the intensity. Then his mind reeled, and he almost fell off the window ledge as dizziness overtook him.

Something was wrong. Very wrong. He had to find Fear fast. Transporting, he could go straight to him. He made his mind attempt it, and was rewarded with another sharp pain for his efforts.

But it worked. He was standning outside, in front of a bar. He almost ran inside before he stopped, hearing something off to the side. He turned curiously, and froze.

Fury leaned over Fear, pinning him and straddling his waist. And the look in the spider Cobra's eyes...

He turned and ran down the sidewalk.


	9. Nightmares

Chapter Nine: Nightmares

1111111111

"There's no way that's what it means..."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"I'm...not sure."

"Then shut up."

Fury leaned down again, crushing their lips together. If he was going to breate himself later for this, he may as well enjoy it while it lasted. He couldn't understand what was going through his head at this point, this was a very dangerous thing to get into. But since when had something like that stopped him?

Fear pressed back willingly enough for a few minutes, before stopping suddenly. With a hand on Fury's chest to keep him at bay, he shook his head. "Wait...Sorrow..."

Fury tensed. "Is he here?"

"No...but..."

A thought struck the pyromaniac. With an annoyed growl, he rolled over to sit next to the mercenary. "You've gotta be kidding me..."

Fear was confused. "What?"

Fury only shook his head.

1111111111

He was upset. Okay, he knew that much. But why? Sorrow leaned against the hotel room's door as if he would collapse without its support. Which was a very real possibility at this point.

Why? Why was this affecting him so badly? True, coming across two of his friends at such an intense moment was a bit awkward. But he felt like someone had kicked him in the chest. There was definately more going on than general unease.

He slid down to a sitting position, still against the door. He knew what was wrong, the thought hit him as swiftly as that proverbial kick. It wasn't something he necessarily wanted to admit to, but there it was. It had been there for days, and he hadn't picked up on it.

Or something like that.

He shook his head adamantly. "No. It's not going to happen like that. I'm stopping this before it even starts."

1111111111

"God, you're such an idiot," Fury muttered.

Fear, who was being held up by Fury slinging one of the black-haired man's arms over his shoulders, sighed. "I know..."

He dragged the enebriated Cobra down the sidewalk. "You're never allowed to drink again."

To tell the truth, Fury was feeling the effects of his own rounds rather painfully. But there were more pressing matters at hand, so he'd have to deal with his personal hangover later. Probably after he took care of Fear's as well.

Fear pulled away from him, standing on shaking legs. "It's not that...Something just...felt i wrong /i for some reason...I'm not sure what or why, but I went crazy for a second there."

Fury shrugged him off, not caring to argue. "Okay, so what now?"

"Let's just go to bed."

"You mean that as in 'let's go to sleep in seperate beds', right?"

"Um...yeah."

"Just checking."

"OW!" Fear jumped suddenly, slapping a hand to the back of his neck. Fury watched as he lifted the hand away. A single yellow and black dot flew away indignantly.

"Was that a...?"

The mercenary gasped. "Shit! Fury, follow that bee!"

"Hornet."

"WHATEVER!"

The brunette started after the flying insect. Fear took off the other way. "Where the hell are you goin'?!"

"To get Sorrow!" he replied. "Don't lose that bug!"

Fury growled, and then began the chase.

1111111111

Sorrow didn't turn around. Fear shut the door behind him quietly, rushing over to the bed against the wall.

"Sorrow, wake up! We've gotta go!"

The medium's eyes didn't open. He shook the smaller man's shoulders, getting no response. Panic leapt up in his throat. "SORROW!"

Still nothing. Fear shook him again, barely able to breathe. He backed away, eyes locked on his friend's unmoving form.

"No...this can't..." he backed up against the wall until he hit it, sinking down to the floor.

There was a pain in his chest, like his entire body had sank underwater. He buried his face in his hands, shaking.

1111111111

Along the sidewalks, people stared as a man ran by them, chasing something and cursing in long streams. Fury, attempting to keep up with a particularly fast bee--hornet, whatever--, hopped over a hedge.

There was going to be pain somehow, either the Cobra, or Fury inflicting some onto Fear.

He hit something. Or someone. He bounced off the much taller figure, letting out a rather loud explititve.

"Jeez. There's a nice welcome."

He stopped, looking up at the masked figure. "Pain!"

The eyes closed in a smile. "The one and only! What's this I hear about one of you guys slapping this poor little thing?"

Fury held up his hands. "Fear did it."

1111111111

He didn't know how long he'd been sitting there, but his legs had fallen asleep. He didn't care. Everything they'd tried to do...it was over like that. And he'd been too busy out drinking and...well...he hadn't been there when he could've done something. He wasn't sure what he could've done, but it would've been better than this.

"I'm sorry..." he muttered into his arms.

He heard something. The tinest of noises. He looked up with wide eyes.

A gasp. It came again, forced and small. But it came from Sorrow and Fear couldn't have been happier. He jumped up and almost fell as the blood rushed back to his limbs. He made it to the bedside, grabbing hold of Sorrow's shoulders again.

"Sorrow! Can you hear me? Say something!"

He didn't reply, but the gasps became less and less forced, like it was becoming easier to breathe. The ghost began shaking, and he reached up and grabbed handfuls of Fear's shirt. Finally the eyes opened, wide and panicked.

"Fear!"

"I'm here! It's okay! You're okay now!" he let out a breath he didn't notice he'd been holding.

Sorrow wrapped his arms around the black-haired Cobra, burying his face in his torso. "I...I...Oh god..."

Fear, thouroughly shocked, held the other tight. "You're okay. I'm here and you're gonna be okay."

They stayed like that for a few minutes before Sorrow trusted himself to let go. He sat up, looking near tears. "I'm sorry..."

Fear shook his head. "What happened?"

Sorrow rubbed at his temple. "I...I made myself go to sleep. But this time, I...that smoke thing attacked me...through my dream."

The mercenary was still shaking. "I thought you were gone for good..."

Sorrow tried to make himself calm down. "I'm okay now. I'm sorry."

Fear grabbed him again, pulling him against his chest. "Jesus, I was so scared..."

Shocked, Sorrow didn't move. He felt something in his stomach again, only this time it wasn't the kick he'd felt before. This reminded him of something, and he mentally cursed himself for ruining his own moods.

"Where's Fury?" he asked, more angrily than he'd intended.

Fear let him go. "Oh crap! I forgot about him!" He grabbed Sorrow's wrist, pulling him up and toward the door. "We found one of the bugs, and I told him to follow it while I got you!"

Sorrow resisted, stopping his friend. "Hold on, I think we can go straight to him."

"You can do that?"

He shrugged. "I can. I don't know if I can take you. But it's worth a shot."

1111111111

"So...Sorrow's a ghost, and Fear's helping him find The Joy?"

Fury paused, lighting his cigarette. "Either that or Fear's just completely batshit insane. Either way, I figured it'd be best if I kept with him."

There was a flash of light, and Fear was in front of them. Looking a bit sick as well.

"I don't think I wanna do that again..."

Pain tilted his head in confusion. "How'd you do that?"

"Sorrow."

The hornet-wielding Cobra shrugged a shoulder. "Makes sense to me."

"Ask him if he knows where Joy is," Sorrow prompted.

"Before you ask, I have no clue where Joy's hiding," Pain said, earning him a few strange looks, only one of which he could see. "But I do know where The End is, and he may know something. Y'know, since he's old and full of wisdom or whatever."

"How did you get in touch with End?" Fury leaned against the wall.

"I didn't. He found me a couple of days ago. Said something about his parrot telling him about a secret mission and invisible things."

"Sometimes that parrot's too smart for its own good," a light voice spoke up from behind the group. They all whirled around in shock.

Sorrow grabbed Fear's arm. Fury dropped the lit cigarette he'd been holding.

"Joy..."


	10. When Cobras Gather

Chapter Ten: When Cobras Gather

11111

"Why're you being so mean to Polly XII?"

"I'm not. I just think he's a little creepily sentient sometimes."

The other four gaped as The Joy and The End came into the view of the streetlight the rest of the group was under.

"Well...leave it to Joy to find us when we were lookin' for her," Fury crossed his arms, leaning his weight on one foot.

"You were looking for me?" Joy tilted her head in surprise. "Why?"

"Oh, Fear's been talking to--"

Fear cut him off, shoving him in the direction of the hotel, keeping hold of Sorrow's wrist. "Let's get back to the room before we get into any important conversations, okay?"

Fury looked at him curiously. Fear made a gesture that he hoped was conveyed as 'don't talk about it until I say it's okay'. At any rate, the brunette seemed to understand, and nodded.

"Go ahead back with them. I'll be there in a minute."

He watched them go before turning to Sorrow, who hadn't spoken since Joy had shown up. He didn't know why he didn't want Fury to tell Joy about Sorrow, but i something /i had made him stop the pyromaniac. Something about how Sorrow had latched almost painfully onto his shoulder.

"Are you gonna be okay?"

Finally the ghost looked up at him, eyes distant. "I didn't know...it would hurt so much to see her again."

The black-haired Cobra felt something twist painfully in his stomach. "You sure you wanna do this?"

"I think so...but I think there's something I need to tell you first."

He tensed. Things that started with those words usually weren't good news. "What?"

Sorrow lowered his gaze, focusing on the sidewalk beneath them. "I...I lied before, when I said I didn't remember how I died."

"What? Why?"

"Well, to be completely honest, I wasn't sure I could trust you at the time. And once I figured out that you'd changed and tried to tell you, the invisible things attacked. But more than that, I think, I wanted to protect Joy."

A few pieces clicked together, forming a dangerous conclusion. "Hold on a minute...are you trying to tell me that Joy..."

"The Joy is the one who killed me."

Fear felt his legs threaten to buckle, but managed to remain standing. "Joy? But why?"

Sorrow smiled humourlessly. "She was ordered to. I was too much of a liability. But I let her. And I want you to know, I don't blame her for it. I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to either."

"This just doesn't make any sense," Fear shook his head. "So why are you trying so hard to find her?"

He shrugged. "Closure? I'm not really sure. I suppose...it's more for her than for myself. I want her to know that I'm not mad at her."

"That's one hell of a mercy mission," he looked slightly annoyed.

"Are you mad?"

He crossed his arms. "Of course I'm mad! I mean, she killed you?! I thought you guys were totally in love and all that crap!"

The medium sighed. "It had to be done. It wasn't a matter of lost love or anything."

"Crazy..." Fear muttered, starting to walk away. "Just crazy. So, what do you want me to do?"

Sorrow followed, slightly confused. "What do you mean?"

He shoved his hands in his pants pockets. "Well, even if I pretend not to be mad at her, there's still a matter of her being here. What do you want me to say to her?"

"I'm not sure...I figured something would come to me in the searching process. I didn't count on her finding us first."

11111

"Okay, really. A _truck_ ?"

Fury shrugged, glaring at Joy from across the room, where he was perched atop the desk. "It was what the guy had. Not like we went to the lot and picked it out ourselves."

She shrugged, as if she wasn't entirely convinced. She didn't say anything else about it though, switching tactics. "So, what's all this about trying to find me?"

Pain started in helpfully. "Fury was telling me something about Fear either being really crazy or seeing ghosts."

Her eyes widened, if only for a fraction of a second. "Oh yeah?"

Fury leaned over, backhanding the hornet-wielding Cobra quickly. "Shut up!"

Joy and End exchanged curious glances. Before another question could be asked, the door swung open, and Fear walked in. He looked upset. The others looked at him expectantly, waiting for a grasp on the situation. Except Fury, who just looked vaguely bored.

"Okay," Fear shut the door after a moment's hesitation, leaning against the wall and crossing his arms. "Apparently, the search didn't take as long as planned, so I'll improvise. Choose your topic. Ghosts, demons, or invisible things."

"I'll go with demons first," Joy replied, not looking at them.

Fear raised an eyebrow, but said nothing, only glancing at Sorrow, who shook his head. "Demons. Alright. Well, it won't make sense right now, but there's obviously some sort of smoke-spewing demon out to get one of us."

"Who?" Pain tilted his head.

"That," the mercenary pointed at him like a teacher with a particularly annoying student, "leads me to the first topic. Ghosts. While it probably pains some of our little group to hear it, there is one of us missing."

Joy's hands clenched into fists on the blanket, but her voice was tight and controlled. "And just what are you getting at?"

"Sorrow's here."

The blond was up in a flash, grabbing hold of Fear's shirt and yanking him forward until their faces were inches apart. "Just what the hell are you trying to do Fear?! Upset me? Is this another one of your sick little games?!"

"Hey! Hold up! I'm serious here!" He didn't even try to wrench free. He knew there was little chance of him escaping if she didn't want him to. "You know me Joy. I wouldn't joke about something like that to you..."

She glared at him fiercely for a few seconds before letting him go. "How do I really know that? How do I know you haven't just lost it or something?"

He looked at her in complete seriousness. "How else would I know how he died?"

Joy looked like she'd been hit. She moved to sit back down, but didn't quite make it. She fell back, and Fear grabbed her arm to keep her from falling. After she was steady again, she made it on the second try.

"Joy..." Sorrow sat down next to her.

"I suggest that you two...er, three, talk more about this privately," The End said sympathetically. "But what about the third topic?"

"The invisible things?" Fury spoke up. "I think I can handle that one. There's some guy followin' me. I can't see him, but I can sure as hell hit him."

"What do you think it is?" Pain asked.

"I'm sure it was nothing," Joy said suddenly. The others looked at her. "It was probably another ghost or something."

"It can't be, cuz Fear can't even see it, and--"

"So? Since when did Fear become the ghost whisperer or whatever?"

"Hey!" Fear snapped, halting the conversation. "Chill for a minute, okay? Jeez. Joy, you come with me and Sorrow. We're gonna have a chat. Fury, tell Pain and End whatever you know about the invisible guy."

"Not like it matters," Joy muttered, standing up. "It doesn't exist."

Fury withheld his reply, seeing as though she used to be their commanding officer. That and he knew she could probably do him some serious damage if given the urge. In fact, he knew it. He'd been on the recieving end of Joy's wrath a few times over the years, and wasn't in a hurry to repeat the process.

Once they left, however, it was fair game.

"Freakin' women and their hormones," he muttered once the door slammed.

The door immediately opened once more, and something collided with Fury's head rather painfully. Upon further inspection, it appeared to be a shoe.

"Should have given a better noise allowance," The End shrugged.


	11. Trouble Follows

Chapter Eleven: Trouble Follows

11111

"It'd be a rather touching scene, under different circumstances."

"Can you just give it a rest?"

"I could, but why tarnish an otherwise amazing reputation?"

The Joy sighed, following the mercenary as he started out into the parking lot. While she didn't outrank them anymore--since they were no longer in a unit--she had halfway expected possibly a little bit of the old chain of command. She was sadly mistaken.

To be honest, The Fear _had_ been taking their old system into effect. If he hadn't, he would've been downright rude to the blond. A subtle rebellion of sorts, proving he wasn't just going to play nice now that he knew what was really going on.

He looked at The Sorrow, who'd been silent for awhile as they walked. While he was accustomed to this, it didn't help.

"So what is it Fear?" Joy snapped suddenly. "There's got to be some reasoning behind this. Otherwise this is really low, even for you."

Sorrow frowned. "She shouldn't take it out on you."

"Tell me about it," he muttered, earning him a look from Joy that could have killed. He recovered quickly. "I was talking to Sorrow. He says you shouldn't take it out on me."

She held the glare a moment longer, before deflating totally. "Okay, I'm sorry. I just...You sprang this on me, and I never really had much time to...to deal with it, and..."

Fear was honestly surprised. He'd never seen Joy in this kind of conditition. She'd always tried so hard not to show herself like this, and he immediately regretted his attitude. "Jeez...I'm sorry. I was being an ass."

She wouldn't look up. "No, you have every right to...since you know what happened and all..."

"Tell her..." Sorrow prompted.

Fear reached over, tenatively pulling Joy closer. "Um...I know you probably think I'm crazy as hell, and I'm making all this up, but I'm serious. I've been helping Sorrow try and find you so he could tell you that he's not mad at you for what happened."

She smiled. "That means a lot. Thank you."

"Hey, I'm just the communication device," he replied good-naturedly. After a moment's thought, he pulled her into a loose hug. "Sorry. I forget sometimes how much crap you guys went through."

Joy shook her head. "You know, Sorrow used to ask me why I talked to you."

"It's cuz you can't get enough of my sweet body."

She started to laugh. "I don't think he ever got to see the non-evil side you hid form those guys."

This earned a smile from Sorrow as well. "So that's why I never noticed it."

A slight flush came over his face. "I dunno what you're talking about. I'm a complete jerk and badass."

She squeezed him a bit, suddenly causing him to double over with a wince. She seperated from him worriedly. "What happened?"

He straightened out with a hand to his bandaged side. "Nothin'. I'm okay. Just a cut from some glass."

"What? When did you do that?"

"When that invisible thing of Fury's stabbed me," he muttered, looking away from her. "Y'know, the one that doesn't exist?"

She looked heartbroken. "Oh...I'm sorry."

He shrugged. "It's not your fault."

She opened her mouth to speak, but didn't say anything. Finally she looked in the direction that Fear had been speaking to. "Sorrow?"

"Yeah, he's there."

She turned to the mercenary, blue eyes sad. "Do you think...I could talk to him for a minute?"

He got what wasn't being said. "Sure...but you know you can't hear him talk back."

"Well, at least I can say what i want without him interrupting," she smirked.

"Hey, I listened to her all the time..." Sorrow frowned.

He smiled. "Okay, I'll just head back. Make sure Fury hasn't lit the place up or anything, y'know, the usual," he waved at Sorrow. "You two play nice now."

Joy watched him turn the corner before speaking. "So...I guess if any of us was going to come back as a ghost, it'd be you. And I may be standing here talking to air, but I'm gonna believe Fear for a minute. Because...I'd like to believe that you're actually here."

Sorrow wanted to respond somehow. But without Fear, he was left with no verbal or visual communication. Instead he looked down at the small patch of grass beside the sidewalk. After a moment's trying, he managed to grasp ahold of a small blue flower and plucked it.

Joy watched in awe as the flower rose up from the ground. She held out a hand, and the small bud fell into it. She smiled.

"I love you too."

11111

The Fear was hlafway back to the hotel before he remembered something. He had wanted to ask Sorrow about what had happened around the bar. His head hurting and spinning, him acting as crazy as he did. He'd probably messed things up with Fury as well, but that would have to wait. He needed to know what it was all about. He had intended to ask the medium about it, but the shock of almost losing him had pushed it out of his mind.

Now he'd have to wait until Joy got done with him. He sighed as he turned the corner of the hotel's street. What would happen next? Sorrow found Joy like he had wanted. Was he going to leave now? Was he just going to disappear, or would he stick around?

What reason did he have to stay around here now?

Fear frowned as he realized he didn't want the ghost to leave. He was surprised how attatched he'd grown to the other Cobra. Why hadn't he seen this before?

He felt something trip him, sweeping his legs out from under him. He fell painfully on the concrete, ears ringing as his head hit the stone. Knowing better than to look for his assailant, he knicked his legs up, landing on his feet.

The mercenary took off running. There was no way he could win a fight like this in his condition. He slid to a fast halt, ducking into an alley. He was almost to the end when he caught sight of the tall chain-link fence in his way.

"CRAP!" he shouted, hopping up on the metal to climb it. At least some of his skills were working for him.

There was a loud boom, and pain shot through his leg, burning white hot. He yelled, falling from the fence back into the alley. A gun. The damn thing had a gun.

He heard footsteps come closer as his eyes closed.


End file.
